1965 Robert Bouchet SP/CSAR

This 1965 Robert Bouchet is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar made in Paris, in his later style with the "lateral" brace – a top example of a great Bouchet from this period.

A Later Bouchet from 1965

Paris-based Robert Bouchet built just over 150 guitars in his lifetime – they are prized for their sound and appearance as well as for their rarity. This guitar is built in his later style, featuring the innovative "lateral" brace that runs beneath the saddle-side of the bridge, notched to take the 5 fan struts (the outermost two pass beneath the lower harmonic bar) – a design that noticeably increases sustain, dynamic range and the ability to color and modulate the tone.

Sound

Dreamy and elegantly beautiful, the sound is very hard to put into words – quite powerful and robust, yet with a "creamy" texture, and playing it is an intoxicating, other-worldly sensation. This is a top example of a great Bouchet from this period.

Robert Bouchet: From Painter to Guitar Maker

Robert Bouchet (1898–1986) was a Paris painter who became one of the most influential guitar makers of the twentieth century and the founding father of what is called today the "French school of guitar making". He took up the guitar in 1932 and became a friend of Julián Gómez Ramírez, a Spanish maker in Paris trained in the José Ramírez I workshop in Madrid, whose workshop he often visited. When he lost the guitar Gómez Ramírez had made for him, he decided to build one himself – in 1946, at the age of 48. In all he made only 154 instruments.

Founder of the French School

Bouchet's reputation quickly attracted some of the greatest players to his workshop: Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, Emilio Pujol, Oscar Ghiglia, Turíbio Santos, Manuel López Ramos and Julian Bream. His innovations, including the famous "barre d'âme" in the soundboard bracing, left a lasting mark on guitar making, and the guitars of Daniel Friederich and many later French makers grew from his school. Bouchets are in the top tier of collectible classical guitars, along with Antonio de Torres and Hermann Hauser I.

Books on Robert Bouchet

Alberto Martínez's bilingual book is the most complete look at Bouchet's life and work, and a 1959 Bouchet is among the guitars shown in Orfeo's "34 Classical Guitars in Life Size":

Robert Bouchet 1898-1986: Peintre & Luthier

Orfeo – 34 Classical Guitars in Life Size